Mark Zuckerberg Is Poaching AI Researchers to Build the Next Superintelligence

That’s not just a catchy headline — it’s actually happening.

In what’s shaping up to be the Silicon Valley arms race of the century, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is personally recruiting some of the world’s top AI researchers to build a new elite team. 

Their goal? Nothing less than artificial general intelligence (AGI) — and possibly beyond. And the way he’s doing it — think: dinners at Lake Tahoe, WhatsApp group chats with execs, and hands-on recruiting from Zuck himself — has the whole tech world asking: is Meta about to leapfrog everyone else in AI?

Let’s break it down.

Why Mark Zuckerberg Is Going All In on AGI

Meta doesn’t just want to participate in the AI race — it wants to win it. With tens of billions already invested into compute infrastructure and foundational models, the company is now entering its most ambitious phase yet: building artificial general intelligence (AGI). But what exactly sparked this shift into overdrive?

Disappointment with LLaMA 4

Although Meta publicly celebrated its LLaMA 4 model as a major achievement, the internal reception painted a far less optimistic picture. Developers and insiders reportedly found the model lacking — not in theoretical benchmarks, but in real-world user experience.

Compared to OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Google’s Gemini, LLaMA 4 felt like a step behind in coherence, creativity, and general usability. This discrepancy didn’t go unnoticed by Zuckerberg, who has long viewed AI as Meta’s next foundational platform — much like mobile was a decade ago. The LLaMA 4 rollout served as a wake-up call: despite all of Meta’s resources, it was falling short of building a truly transformative AI product.

Falling Behind the Competition

OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic have already carved out dominant positions in the public eye. Their models — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude — aren’t just tools, they’ve become brands. Meta, by contrast, remained more associated with social platforms and virtual reality. It hadn’t yet produced an AI brand that captured the public imagination. For a company with Meta’s ambitions, that kind of second-tier status simply wasn’t acceptable. To reclaim relevance and mindshare, Zuckerberg needed a dramatic leap — not another incremental update.

The Metaverse Isn’t Working Out (At Least Not Yet)

Just a few years ago, Meta was pouring billions into the metaverse — betting that virtual reality would be the next big platform. But that vision has failed to gain the kind of mainstream adoption or cultural excitement Meta hoped for. Headsets still feel niche, user engagement has stagnated, and the public enthusiasm that once surrounded the metaverse has largely cooled.

In contrast, AI has exploded. From ChatGPT to AI-powered design tools and voice agents, artificial intelligence is proving to be the tech that actually delivers mass utility and excitement today. Zuckerberg isn’t abandoning the metaverse entirely — but AGI has clearly taken over as Meta’s true long-term play. And unlike the metaverse, it’s a bet with immediate traction.

What Does “Superintelligence” Actually Mean?

As AI evolves, so does our language for describing it. We’re no longer just talking about assistants that complete sentences or suggest songs — we’re entering an era where terms like AGI and Superintelligence are beginning to shape corporate roadmaps and societal fears alike. So what do they actually mean?

This Is Superintelligence

Superintelligence, in its most ambitious form, refers to an AI system that doesn’t just match human intelligence — it vastly exceeds it across every measurable domain. That includes abstract reasoning, scientific discovery, emotional insight, creativity, and even ethical judgment.

This kind of intelligence would be capable of solving problems that are unsolvable by humans — not just because of scale, but because of depth. Imagine an entity that can invent new materials, cure diseases we don’t yet understand, restructure economic systems, or optimize planetary ecosystems.

Right now, Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) remains theoretical. We don’t know what it will look like, or even if it’s possible. But the fact that Meta’s new elite AI division is called the Superintelligence Group suggests something crucial: they’re not just aiming to build competent systems. They’re aiming to create something truly world-shifting.

Why Zuckerberg Is Trying to Create It

Mark Zuckerberg is not only chasing a technological milestone — he’s chasing a legacy. After leading Meta through the rise of social media and the stalled metaverse experiment, AGI and potentially superintelligence now represent the next great platform shift — and Zuckerberg wants Meta to own it.

There’s also a deeper strategic motivation. In the current AI race, whoever builds the most powerful, general-purpose system wins not just market share — but influence over how this intelligence thinks, creates, and operates. By assembling a team of elite researchers and pouring billions into infrastructure, Zuckerberg is betting that intelligence itself will be the most valuable resource of the 21st century.

But why go beyond AGI toward superintelligence? Because Meta has always played the long game. Whether it’s through personalized AI in WhatsApp, AR glasses that interpret the world around you, or productivity tools that think before you do, Meta’s vision isn’t about creating one smart product — it’s about embedding a “superhuman” mind across its entire ecosystem.

AI vs AGI vs ASI

To truly grasp what Meta is building, we need to define the core terms — and how they compare to each other:

• AI (Artificial Intelligence) refers to narrow systems designed to perform specific tasks. These are the models we use today for things like recommendation engines, customer service bots, and voice assistants. They’re powerful, but context-limited. A chess-playing AI can’t write code or explain climate science. It’s “smart” — but only in one area.
  
• AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) breaks those boundaries. It’s a system that can perform any intellectual task a human can — from critical thinking to creativity, from conversation to scientific analysis. It can learn, adapt, and understand, not just read patterns. AGI is the holy grail of many AI labs, and officially, it’s what Meta says it’s trying to build.
  

• ASI (Artificial Superintelligence) takes it even further. This is intelligence that doesn’t stop at human parity — it surpasses human ability entirely. If AGI is “Einstein-level”, ASI is something we can’t even imagine yet. And while no one has built it, the ambition to move in that direction is clear — especially when a team is named after it.

So while Meta may claim it’s building AGI, the name “Superintelligence Group” speaks for itself. It suggests a deeper goal: not just catching up with OpenAI or Google, but leaping beyond what anyone else has dared to build.

How Zuckerberg Plans to Create AGI

Mark Zuckerberg is laying out a deliberate and aggressive strategy — from team structure to leadership style to talent targeting, every move is being fine-tuned to build Artificial General Intelligence faster than anyone else. So how does he plan to actually make it happen?

His Superintelligence Team

At the core of Zuckerberg’s AGI strategy is the new Superintelligence team — but this isn’t just a flashy rebrand. The group has been set up with a very specific structure and philosophy: small, elite, and execution-focused.

Instead of expanding into a bureaucratic research division, the team is being kept intentionally lean. Think of it more like a startup within Meta: fast-moving, high-trust, and expected to iterate quickly. Reports suggest that the team is being built with only about 50 top-tier AI engineers and researchers, but with enormous compute and budget backing.

The goal? Build core AGI capabilities, not just small upgrades. That means pushing beyond optimizing LLaMA models and instead exploring more foundational architecture breakthroughs — new ways of learning, reasoning, and cross-domain cognition.

This group is separate from Meta’s standard AI divisions and has been given unusually high internal autonomy. They don’t just answer to product managers or quarterly goals — they answer to the founder.

“Founder Mode”

Insiders say Zuckerberg has gone into “founder mode” — a term used when a tech founder personally re-engages in deep company-building, usually during pivotal moments. And that’s exactly what is happening right now.

He’s personally reviewing candidates, reshaping office layouts to bring the team closer to his desk, and even hosting private dinners to pitch Meta’s vision directly. According to Bloomberg, this is the most hands-on Zuckerberg has been since the early days of Facebook. His level of involvement sends a clear signal: this matters more than anything else Meta is building.

This isn’t just about the product. It’s about control. Zuckerberg doesn’t want AGI to emerge from Meta by accident or through passive support. He wants to actively shape it. And that level of founder engagement means the Superintelligence team has unusual access, trust, and decision-making power within the company.

Who They Want on Their Team

Meta isn’t looking for average hires. The recruitment strategy is laser-focused on elite talent from the AI frontier — people who are already shaping the next generation of intelligent systems.

The primary targets include:

• Researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic, especially those involved in foundational model training and safety.
  
• Infrastructure engineers who can scale massive compute workloads and build custom model-serving architectures.
  
• AI ethics and alignment specialists, though these roles are less publicly discussed.
  

But it’s not just about prestige. Meta is reportedly looking for builders, for people who can think across research and product, experiment rapidly, and aren’t afraid to challenge “traditional” assumptions about model design or data pipelines.

The offers? They’re said to be generous. In an ecosystem where top talent is scarce and expensive, Meta is willing to go all-in — not just with money, but with influence, autonomy, and access to one of the largest compute budgets in the industry.

Meta’s Strategic Purchase Of Scale AI

While the spotlight has been on Meta’s new Superintelligence team, another move may prove just as crucial: Meta’s multi-billion-dollar investment in Scale AI. Behind the scenes, this deal could unlock the infrastructure and talent Meta needs to accelerate toward AGI.

Why Did They Buy It?

Meta isn’t just investing in data infrastructure — it’s buying speed, control, and self-reliance.

Scale AI is one of the most important behind-the-scenes players in the AI world. The company specializes in data labeling, model training pipelines, synthetic data generation, and even custom infrastructure solutions for large-scale AI deployments. In other words, Scale AI helps other companies train smarter models, faster.

By bringing Scale AI into the fold, Meta is doing something critical: vertically integrating its AI operations. That means controlling not just the model (like LLaMA) or the hardware (via partnerships with Nvidia), but also the data curation, annotation, and optimization processes that determine how well those models perform.

This gives Meta a major edge in three key areas:

• Training efficiency – Faster iteration cycles and better data quality mean quicker improvements in model performance.
  
• Customizability – Tailored data pipelines allow Meta to fine-tune models for specific applications across WhatsApp, Instagram, and beyond.
  
• Independence – Meta won’t have to rely on third-party services for core infrastructure. Everything is under one roof, reducing external risk.
  

Simply put: if you want to build AGI fast, you can’t outsource your foundation. Scale AI gives Meta the tools to build from the ground up — on its own terms.

Alexandr Wang – The Missing Piece Of The Puzzle?

Along with the Scale AI deal comes Alexandr Wang, the company’s high-profile founder and CEO. At just 27 years old, Wang has already made a name for himself as one of the most influential figures in the AI infrastructure space — and a vocal advocate for responsible, scalable AI development.

According to Bloomberg, Wang is expected to join Meta’s Superintelligence initiative in a leadership role after the deal closes. While exact details haven’t been confirmed, insiders speculate that he’ll help architect the data strategy and training systems that power Meta’s future AGI efforts.

Wang brings both technical and strategic firepower. His background blends mathematics, physics, and large-scale engineering, and under his leadership, Scale AI has grown into a $28B company serving top government, defense, and tech clients.

For Meta, that means two things:

1. A field-tested operator who understands how to scale AI training at the industrial level.
   
2. A visionary technologist who can push Meta’s capabilities far beyond the current LLaMA generation.
   

In short, this isn’t just an acquisition. It’s a power move — one that brings Meta not only essential tools but a key architect in its race toward AGI.

Final Thoughts On Zuckerberg’s Power Move

Meta’s Superintelligence group marks the return of a founder fully in control, steering the company not toward incremental growth but toward foundational change. After years of cautious research and corporate-scale collaboration, Zuckerberg is shifting Meta into a new gear: fast, focused, and personally led.

This isn’t just corporate competition anymore — it’s personal. The race for AGI has become a proving ground for visionaries, and Zuckerberg is making it clear that he intends to be at the front of the pack.

The implications are massive. On the optimistic end, Meta’s investment could accelerate the development of intelligent tools that empower individuals, enhance creativity, and drive breakthroughs in science, education, and medicine. With enough alignment and transparency, it could be a leap forward for humanity.

But there’s another side — one that’s hard to ignore. This is the same company that monetized attention, scaled disinformation, and prioritized engagement over well-being. Now it wants to create an intelligence on par with humans across every domain — and be the one that controls it.

So yes, Zuckerberg is poaching top AI talent from across the industry. But the bigger story isn’t who he’s hiring — it’s what he’s building.